“The all-new Parlee Ouray is the culmination of 25 years of carbon fiber expertise, blending precise layups, legendary handling, and modern geometry to create a truly unique all-road bike with our first-ever nude carbon finish.” – Parlee Cycles
“Modern riders are seeking an experience, and a bike that lets them explore their surroundings and themselves. To venture further, or ride faster. And to connect with friends over a shared passion. The new Parlee Ouray is built for all of these things. Inspired by the town of Ouray, located deep in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, where all roads deliver epic experiences. The Ouray is purpose built for conquering climbs, ripping descents and exploring back roads.”
A True Clean Sheet Design
“All-new from the ground up and handmade in the EU, the Ouray’s single-piece monocoque frame is made with a new precision layup process that creates a perfect frame, both functionally and aesthetically. Each unidirectional carbon fiber ply is meticulously placed, yielding a finished frame that requires no cosmetic layers, filler, bonding agents, or paint. It looks so good, it’s our first production bike to be offered in a stunning nude finish!”
“This level of finish quality is extremely hard to do -it’s why almost no one else does it- so we’re proud to show our work by offering it with nothing more than a durable wax coating, allowing you (and your riding buddies) to admire the craftsmanship.”
Light, but not a Lightweight
“Our unique construction method delivers a true monocoque one-piece frame that’s incredibly lightweight, yet durable enough for real-world adventures. This layup process gives us complete control over the ride quality. In fact, the Ouray is the most comfortable bike we’ve ever made. But, the sloping top tube and dropped stays do more than add tuned compliance for all day comfort. The compact design delivers improved lateral and torsional stiffness for immediate power transfer.”
Fully Modern, and Plays Well With Others
“Clearance for wider 700×38 tires provide confidence on packed gravel and less than perfect asphalt, and updated geometry delivers stable, predictable handling. Modern touches like full internal routing with integrated cockpits, electronic-only shifting, and minimalist front brake mounts combine with proven open standards like a T47 threaded bottom bracket and UDH derailleur hanger for easy (and future-proof) component compatibility.”
Built to Order
“Every frame is made one at a time, in small batches, then individually built to order at our US headquarters. Choose from five frame sizes that can be built in standard or tall configurations, then choose your desired cock-pit (including bar width, stem length, seat and seatpost configuration), wheels, tires, drivetrain, and accessories.”
“Parlee #Paintlab has set the standard for custom paint for many years. We offer our full scope of custom paint options on this bike as well. Our team can recreate anything from mild to wild to deliver a bike that is 100% unique to you.”
Joy Is In The Ride
“The Ouray is the next generation of Parlee, delivering our signature ride quality and handling on a modern machine that’s ready for your next adventure, wherever that may be. This is the ultimate all-road bike.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did the Ouray name come from?
“Inspired by the town of Ouray, located deep in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Dubbed the “Switzerland of the U.S.”, its ribbons of curving mountain roads offer epic climbs, blazing descents, and plenty of rugged backroads to explore, it’s the type of road every drop bar cyclist dreams of. And the type of place that tests what a bike is made of, so we built the Ouray (pronounced “yuray”) to excel on the climbs, descents, and everywhere in between, and on everything from perfect pavement to chunky winter-worn asphalt to smooth dirt roads.”
What’s the Big Deal with Single-Piece Monocoque Construction? What is it anyway?
“Most other bicycle frames are made in sections, then bonded together or overwrapped with more carbon fiber. While both of these methods produce great frames, and we use these methods our-selves on other models, a single-piece monocoque frame allows for an overall lighter frame with a more refined ride quality. Here’s why:”
“Bonding creates joints that have to be filled and sanded, then painted to hide those joints. Over-wrapping, which is combining tubes or sections by wrapping additional layers of carbon around the joints, adds more material. Paint and extra material both add weight, but more importantly, assembling a frame from individual pieces makes it harder to achieve cohesive ride quality throughout the frame.”
“By making the entire Ouray frame as a single piece, we eliminate any joints and precisely control how each piece of carbon fiber interacts with the next, allowing us ultimate control over how the finished product rides. We go a step further to ensure that every layer is perfectly aligned, allowing us to offer the frame with our first-ever “nude” finish, showing off the beautiful carbon construction.”
What’s the Big Deal about a “Nude” Carbon Finish?
“Ever wonder why so many high-end, boutique carbon fiber frames add 100g or more of paint on top? Laying up unidirectional fibers, particularly when laying up the entire frame as a single piece like we’re doing here, is exceptionally hard. It’s even harder to keep those carbon layers perfectly positioned, wrinkle-free, and without gaps or steps that require sanding and fillers to smooth over.”
“With the Ouray, we take it one step further. No cosmetic woven layers hide our perfect UD carbon frame. Everything you see is functional (and beautiful!), and it’s the result of more than 25 years of perfecting carbon fiber bicycle design and manufacturing. The nude carbon finish also means that there’s no paint to chip so the bike will look great for years and years to come. It’s the perfect finish for a bike that can go anywhere and ride anything.”
Are they Clear Coated? Painted?
“Every nude frame will be sold with a durable wax coating to protect it. This adds just a couple of grams to the frame, compared to 100g or more of paint. We use a standard 303 Aerospace wax avail-able easily online and through most marine suppliers. It’s super easy to apply – just wipe it on with a clean cloth once or twice a year to provide protection from the elements and keep the bike looking Of course, we offer full custom paint through the Parlee #PAINTLAB if you’d like to truly customize your Ouray! The beautiful nude carbon provides a perfect foundation for applying tinted clearcoat finishes or much more intricate hand-painted designs.”
How are you producing these? Where are they made?
“The Ouray is designed in Beverly, Massachusetts, USA, by Bob Parlee and his team. The frames are made in limited quantities in small batches at a dedicated manufacturing partner in Western Europe. We work directly with them to ensure every Ouray frame is perfect, then bikes are built and, if re-quested, painted in-house in MA.”
“Some quick background: The Z4 was our first production bike made outside of our own US factory, manufactured in Asia at a carefully selected factory. For the Ouray, we wanted to raise the bar and deliver an even better product more in line with customers’ expectations for our brand. By producing in Western Europe it allows us to deliver that authentic Parlee product (incredibly high-end frame with perfect layups), but do it at a larger scale than we can do in-house. It also lets us create a premium bike at a more attainable price point.”
Where does the Ouray fit into the Parlee lineup?
“The Ouray replaces the Altum as our all-around performance bicycle. It slots between the RZ7, our aero race bike, and the Chebacco gravel bike. We also still offer full custom Z-series road and gravel bikes that are handmade in our US HQ.”
What’s New about the Ouray’s Design?
“Parlee bikes are known for their supremely lively performance with sublime ride quality, and the Ouray continues this tradition and is our first “all-road” bike. It’s also our first bike with a dramatically sloping top tube. This lets us offer longer seatposts which, combined with a traditional round post, adds more compliance and comfort over mixed surfaces. The seatstays are slightly dropped and the top tube is flatter, which aids in overall vertical compliance for the seat tube and post, further improving comfort.”
“The angular downtube creates a laterally and torsionally stiff lower half of the bike, improving power delivery and pedaling efficiency. By using a monocoque construction, we’re able to perfectly combine these opposing qualities (compliance and stiffness) while minimizing weight and maximizing durability.”
Is It Aero?
“The Ouray’s downtube’s design is based on the extensive wind tunnel test data used to create the RZ7’s Recurve aero profile, however, the main aero consideration is using a fully integrated stealth cockpit. All brake lines are run through the stem (or bar and stem, depending on cockpit selection), and it’s only compatible with electronic drivetrains. This leaves no wires, cables, or hoses visible to the wind.”
Which Standards does the Ouray Use?
“A key principal for us when we designed the Ouray was to extensively embrace Open Standards. For example: Our headtube uses stainless IS52 upper and lower headset bearings for native compatibility with FSA, ENVE, Deda, Token, and PRO, among others. The open design allows for future compatibility with other component systems.”
“We stick with all common standards, including 12mm thru-axles, a round seatpost (31.6mm stan-dard), and T47 threaded bottom brackets. But we do look to the future with our brake mounts… The front flat-mount brake mounts fit a 160mm rotor standard, or a 180mm rotor by flipping the mounting bracket. More aggressive riders will likely benefit from a larger front rotor. The rear flat-mount brake sticks with the standard 140/160mm rotor mount. Parlee ships 160mm rotors front and rear in all complete builds.”
Can I get Custom Geometry?
“The Ouray is offered in five stock sizes. Each frame ships with top caps and spacers to set up in either our standard or tall configurations. This allows a perfect fit for the vast majority of riders. For clients who need custom geometry, we recommend the Z-Zero RD and XD models. We are not offering custom geometry for this model at this time.”
What Customization do you Offer?
Paint: Full custom paint available through the Parlee #PAINTLAB
- Fit options: This includes cockpit selection (crank length, bar width, stem length, seat, seatpost set-back, etc.), wheels, tires, drivetrain, and other accessories, making every Ouray unique to its owner.
- Kit specs and Framekits: Full range of Shimano and SRAM with 12 different standard build configurations. Frame kits are also available for customers looking for additional customization flexibility.
Where will the Ouray be sold?
“We remain committed to the independent bicycle retailer. All Parlee bikes are sold through our deal-er network to ensure every customer receives the best possible experience. All of our dealers are trained to guide the rider through the purchase process, which includes fitting the cockpit dimensions and frame options to them and selecting the best components for their riding style and experience.”
Learn more at the Parlee Cycles Website